Tyler's Birth Story

I didn't start out with the usual signs of pregnancy, I knew two hours after conception that there would be a new little life for our family. I suffer from pains from ovulating, so without a doubt, I had to be pregnant. The chances for me to carry a little boy full term is non existent. My first boy was born at 26 weeks, 15 years ago. My second little boy was stillborn at 22 weeks. That was 13 years ago. When I carried my 4th child full term (a girl) I was encouraged. However, when we decided to try for another, we were met with all the boy symptoms, (early vaginal bleeding). We found out that there was two sacks: one with a live baby and one with dead cells waiting to be flushed. It finally happened one Saturday. I carried this little boy the longest of all, 32 weeks. I decided that I shouldn't try to get pregnant again, so four and a half years later my son was saying his prayers and asked for a baby brother. Well his prayer was answered when I got pregnant 2 months later.

I told everyone at work that I was pregnant first thing, so they wouldn't be surprised when I had to take time off for a rotten pregnancy. I really needed to tell them soon. On the morning of my first prenatal visit, I started to bleed. I got so scared! Not again, was the only thing I could think of, but I went anyway and I thought I would be fine, but they couldn't see a baby with an ultrasound, so they said to come back in a week. I was only 6 weeks along. Luckily, next appointment we saw a baby. The pregnancy was pretty okay until my 18 week appointment when they discovered that I had an abrupted placenta, the same thing that I always get when I pregnant with boys. I was to go on immediate bedrest. I was hospitalized when I was so dehydrated that I was having constant contractions that wouldn't stop. I was 21 weeks along. After being on the IV drip to hydrate me, the contractions went away. But I chose to stay in the hospital until he was born. Tyler was born at 25 weeks, by C-Section. He weighed in at 1 pound 13 oz. He was almost 13 inches long. He was lucky though, he didn't have any head bleeds that many premature babies get. Therefore he is mentally there! He was a cute little boy although I couldn't tell what his face looked like for about 8 weeks. He also had retinopathy of prematurity, which meant that the blood vessels were not growing properly, and without immediate surgery, he would loose his eyesight. The surgery was a success, he had the surgery four weeks before his due date.

Today Tyler is a very energetic little boy who is smaller than other kids his age. He also is a little developmentally delayed but he is catching up very quickly now. But this little boy has brought a lot of love to our home and I would do it all over again if I had to so I could have him. So anyone who ever thinks they are alone if they deliver a preemie, Read this story and believe that there are miracles around us all the time. I know because I have two.